diff --git a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
index ce5c8c2528..ccf3353d12 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
+++ b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
@@ -1325,7 +1325,7 @@ void AppLayerProtoDetectPPRegister(uint8_t ipproto,
     SCReturn;
 }
 
-void AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
+int AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
                                          uint8_t ipproto,
                                          const char *alproto_name,
                                          AppProto alproto,
@@ -1338,6 +1338,7 @@ void AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
     int r;
     ConfNode *node;
     ConfNode *port_node = NULL;
+    int config = 0;
 
     r = snprintf(param, sizeof(param), "%s%s%s", "app-layer.protocols.",
                  alproto_name, ".detection-ports");
@@ -1386,8 +1387,9 @@ void AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
 
     }
 
+    config = 1;
  end:
-    SCReturn;
+    SCReturnInt(config);
 }
 
 /***** PM registration *****/
diff --git a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.h b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.h
index 844736dca3..81b75fe392 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.h
+++ b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.h
@@ -66,7 +66,10 @@ void AppLayerProtoDetectPPRegister(uint8_t ipproto,
                                    uint16_t min_depth, uint16_t max_depth,
                                    uint8_t direction,
                                    ProbingParserFPtr ProbingParser);
-void AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
+/**
+ *  \retval bool 0 if no config was found, 1 if config was found
+ */
+int AppLayerProtoDetectPPParseConfPorts(const char *ipproto_name,
                                          uint8_t ipproto,
                                          const char *alproto_name,
                                          AppProto alproto,